Hillel Campus Climate Initiative
This critical program fuels university and college administrators to build awareness, allyship, and action around antisemitism, as part of a broader effort to address hate and bias on campus.

The Campus Climate Initiative (CCI) collaborates with higher education administrators to ensure a positive campus climate in which Jewish students feel comfortable expressing their identity and values, free of antisemitism, harassment, or marginalization. We recognize that key administrative leaders play an essential role in effecting broad-based educational and policy change on campus, and that partnerships between campuses and Hillels can catalyze positive changes that benefit Jewish students and all students. The CCI model involves partnership between the college or university administration, local Hillel, and the CCI team. To date, 40 colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada have participated in the Campus Climate Initiative, including Cohort 3, which was announced in September 2022.
Applications for the Campus Climate Initiative’s Fourth Cohort are now open!
Information about CCI, the Cohort experience, and the application process can be found at the link below.
Learn moreThe Campus Climate Initiative (CCI) provides college and university administrators with opportunities to seriously explore these topics — and create meaningful action plans — alongside a community of peers from institutions around North America. This collaborative, educational, and practical experience offers administrators on participating campuses, in partnership with their local Hillel professionals, to engage together with us in:
- Gathering, assessing, and utilizing data to better understand the current climate for Jewish students in their campus community and to inform strategic next steps
- Training and empowering university administration and staff to better understand the needs of Jewish students, the diversity of the Jewish community, and the challenges of campus antisemitism
- Creating and adopting best practice policies, procedures, and programs to address antisemitism and foster a positive campus climate for Jewish students and all students
Antisemitic incidents on college and university campuses represent a threat to our values and our ability to create communities that respect the fundamental dignity and human rights of all members. Addressing them challenges us to take a hard look at difficult questions affecting our campus climates and our society more broadly.
Lee C. Bollinger, President of Columbia University
As part of the cohort experience, participating campuses will:
- Build a coalition to combat antisemitism
- Participate in a professional community of practice that centers peer-to-peer learning with colleagues who share a commitment to inclusive campus communities for all students
- Engage in campus-specific work to implement data-informed action steps to foster a positive, inclusive, and welcoming campus climate for Jewish students and all students.
- Receive ongoing support from Hillel International professionals to sustain an inclusive campus culture for all students
Higher education institutions are encouraged to apply for the fourth cohort jointly with their campus Hillel. Applications are now open! For more information, contact [email protected].
The workshops, trainings, resources and support have been invaluable to us as an institution. We are particularly appreciative of the cohort model as we get to learn from, and share with, our peers.
Tiffenia D. Archie, Ph.D. Associate Vice President & Chief Inclusion Officer, Temple University
43% of Jewish students in the U.S. report having experienced or witnessed antisemitism on their campus
Antisemitic incidents on U.S. campuses have tripled over the past five years. Hillel-ADL survey
Previous Cohorts
Forty colleges and universities have participated in the Campus Climate Initiative.
Butler University
Baruch College
Brooklyn College
College of Staten Island
Goucher College
Hunter College
John Carroll University
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Lehigh University
Queens College
San Francisco State University
The City College of New York
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Iowa
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Virginia Tech
Yale University
Binghamton University
Case Western Reserve University
Elon University
Florida Atlantic University
Goucher College
Ithaca College
Kennesaw State University
New York University
Northwestern University
Rutgers University
San Diego State University
San Jose State University
Stony Brook University
Temple University
Tufts University
University of Connecticut
University of Wisconsin-Madison
University of Wisconsin System
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech)